Dispersible color compositions



Patented Apr. 1 8, 1939 PATENT OFFICE 2,155,326 DISPERSIBLE COLOR COMPOSITIONS Robert J. OBrien, Belleville, N. 'J., assignor to Collway Colors, Inc., Paterson, N. J., a corp-' ration of New Jersey N0 Drawing. Application December 17, 1936, Serial No. 116,441

6 Claims.

This invention relates to the production of diluted dispersible color powders containing vat: dyes, pigments, lakes, toners, and the like as the coloring media. Such diluted dispersible colors are employed in the coloring of buttons, the tinting of paper, rubber, and leather, pigment padding, and textile printing.

More specifically, the invention relates to the provision of a suitable extender or diluting agent for these diluted dispersible color powders.

The diluting agents or extenders which have heretofore been used in making up such color powders have been, for the most part, cane qr beet sugar, dextrine, and water-soluble inorganic salts. Such extenders have not been found satisfactory since, for the most part, they render the dispersible powders hygroscopic and endow them with a decided tendency to form hard lumps on standing and of rendering the solutions of the dispersed powders extremely difficult to filter.

. One of the objects of this invention, therefore, is to produce an extended or diluted dispersible dye or color powder which will be non-hygroscopic and will not cake upon standing. I

Another of the objects of this invention is to produce an extended dispersible color powder which will be non-dusting.

Still another object is to produce an extended color powder which will be stable under ordinary conditions of storage and particularly one which does not flocculate on standing.

It is also one of the objects of this invention to produce an extended dispersible color powder which is readily dispersible and will make up into a stable reversible colloid.

I have now discovered that, if lactose or milk sugar is added to a dye with a dispersing agent in a dry or solid state, a dispersible color powder can be obtained in powder form, which is nondusting, non-hygroscopic, non-caking, and stable. The lactose or milk sugar being inert forms with the dye a mixture which will make up into a stable reversible colloid. The amount of lactose to be added to the mixture depends upon the per cent or depth of color desired. Thus, if a light tone is desired, increased amounts of lactose are employed in the mixture, whereas if deep tones are desired smaller amounts of lactose are used.

As a dispersing agent, I prefer to use Tamol 50 NNO (a combination of'formaldehyde and naphthalene sulfonic acid), but may use any other suitable dispersing agent examples of which are gum arabic, dextrine, and N-alkyl-amino fatty acids such as the reaction product of oleyl alco- 55 hol and sarcosine and the reaction product'of stearyl alcohol and sarcosine. If the color used is a vat dye, brown sugar should preferably be used in addition to the lactose in order to add weight to the mixture and overcome the flufiiness of the resulting product. Up to twenty-five'per cent by weight of the brown sugar may be added depending upon the degree of fiuffiness of the mixture.

The color'or dye, which may be used in amounts as low as five per cent or less of the total weight 1 of the lactose mixture, may be any type of dye or pigment color. Examples of the various classes of colors which may be used in making up my compositions of matter are:

In order to more clearly set forth the proportions of dyestufl, dispersing agent, and extender in my new compositions of matter, the following specific examples are given. It is to be understood that my invention is not, however, limited to the materials or proportions named in these examples. Parts are by weight:

Example 1 Parts Phosphotungstic lake toner 10 Tamol NNO 4 Lactose 86 Yield 1(l0 Example 2 l Parts Hansa yellow (azo color) 30 Tamol NNO 9 Lactose 61 Yield; 100

In place of the Hansa yellow, any other azo color may be substituted.

Example 3 Parts Indanthrene blue (Schultz Dye Tables #1228) 20 Tamol NNO 4 Brown sugar 25 Lactose 5L Yield In place of the vat dyestufl'named, other vat dyes may be substituted as, for instance, Indanthrene brown (Schultz Dye Tables #1219) and Arithraquinone blue (Schultz Dye Tables #1205) In the foregoing examples, any of the above named dispersing agents or other suitable dispersing agents may be substituted for the Tamol NNO.

In addition to the above noted advantages to be derived from my invention, it has been found that in using my dye mixtures in disperse phase, they stay in suspension and show no tendency to settle out on dye machines or in containers. In the case of vat dyes, it has further been found that a much smaller amount of alkali is required to reduce the dye to the leuco form than would be expected for the amount of dye present.

Having now disclosed my invention and the manner in which it may be performed, what I claim is: V

1. A stable dispersible color powder comprising a coloring agent, a dispersing agent and lactose, each of said ingredients being in a substantially dry or solid state when mixed, sald color powder being, in a dry state, non-hygroscopic, non-dusting, non-fiocculating, and readily dispersible in water to form a stable reversible colloid.

2. A stable dispersible color powder comprising a phosphotungstic toner, a dispersing agent and lactose, each of said ingredients being in a substantially dry or solid state when mixed, said color powder being, in a dry state, non-hygroscopic, non-dusting, non-flocculating, and readily dispersible in Water to form a stable reversible colloid.

3. A stable dispersible color powder comprising a vat dye, a dispersing agent and lactose, each of said ingredients being in a substantially dry or solid state when mixed, said color powder being, in .a dry state, non-hygroscopic, non-dusting, non-flocculating and readily dispersible in water to form a stable reversible colloid.

4. A stable dispersible color powder comprising an azo dye, a dispersing agent and lactose, each of said ingredients being in a substantially dry or solid state when mixed, said color powder being, in a dry state, non-hygroscopic, non-dusting, non-fiocculating and readily dispersible in water to form a stable. reversible colloid.

5. The stable dispersible color powder of claim 1 wherein the quantity of lactose is in excess of the quantity of coloring agent.

6. The stable dispersible color powder of claim 2 wherein the quantity of lactose is in excess of the quantity of phosphotungstic toner.

ROBERT J. OBRIEN. 

